Black Forest Ice Box Cake for Two

Wash, stem and pit the cherries. Slice each cherry into roughly 6 slices. Set aside.

Beat together with an electric mixer all other ingredients except chocolate wafers and cocoa powder.

In the bottom of a 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan, spread one layer of chocolate wafers. It’s best to break the wafers in half and make the straight edges of the cookies point towards the edges of the pan. Overlap wafers in the middle to fill the gaps. Place 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture on top of the wafers. Add another layer of wafers, followed by half of the sliced cherries. Dust half of the cocoa powder on top of the cherries before continuing. Repeat layers, saving the other half of the cherries for the top. Dust the top with cocoa powder, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge at least 8 hours. Before serving, dip a knife in warm water to slice the cake. Use a flexible spatula to scoop out the cake.

Notes:
This cake is very rich. I think you could get away with using less powdered sugar in the filling if you don’t like your desserts tooth-achingly sweet (like we Southerners do).

If you want to get super decadent, top this cake with chocolate whipped cream: whip 7 tablespoons heavy cream with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. Frost just before serving.